Intimacy Between Strangers
by coconutmandarin
Summary: They are complete strangers…yet they might as well be lovers.


**Two fics this break...I'm on a roll. The inspiration for this came from a New York Times article called "Window Watchers in a City of Strangers." Google it, it's really interesting. After I wrote the first couple paragraphs of this fic with that in mind, I just let it sit in my computer, not knowing what to do with it until I finally forced myself to just write. It took on a mind of its own...if it wasn't for the conclusion, this fic would've stayed K+ haha. Enjoy!**

**MUFJ stands for Mitsubishi UFJ, a financial group. University of Tokyo Hospital may or may not exist in real life. ****Nihonryori Ryugin and the dishes I mentioned actually exist. **

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**Intimacy Between Strangers**

_They are complete strangers…yet they might as well be lovers.

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He doesn't know the usual things one would know about a person if they were acquainted: what her name is, how old she is, what she does for a living. He has never spoken a word to her in his life and in all likelihood, she doesn't even know he exists. They are complete strangers…yet they might as well be lovers.

He knows she always leaves her apartment at seven in the morning. What time she comes back varies from day to day; he's seen her return at seven in the evening and he's seen her return at eleven at night. When she comes back, she always sets her purse down on the table by the door, hangs her coat up on the nearby coat rack, and goes into the kitchen to make a light dinner that she eats while watching television. He always sees something colorful on her plate even though he can never make out what it is. When she finishes, she does the dishes in the kitchen sink before drying them and carefully placing them in their respective cabinets and drawers.

Directly after dinner, she gets ready for bed. As soon as the lights in the kitchen and dining room turn off, the ones in the bedroom flick on. She undoes the bun her hair is always in and lets it fall below her shoulders in a tangle of thick waves. It's an unusual shade of red so light it reflects pink. When she begins undressing, he averts his eyes, his mother's voice telling him to be a gentleman ringing in his ears. Only when he's sure she has disappeared into the adjacent bathroom to take her evening shower does he allow himself to resume watching again.

Her showers usually last fifteen minutes. When she comes out, she's dressed in a thin silk chemise and her hair is almost auburn from the wetness. He doesn't know if it dries in the hour she spends reading in her bed but when an hour has passed, she turns off the light and the darkness hides her from his prying eyes.

He knows that his behavior can be termed nosy at best, voyeuristic at worst. But when he bought his apartment, he hadn't anticipated having a beautiful neighbor across the street whose floor-to-ceiling glass windows were completely see-through and devoid of curtains. At first, he watched her because he was afraid his own windows had the same problem. He was an intensely private man and the last thing he wanted was having people look into his inner sanctuary. He checked to see if her attention ever fixated on his building and when her eyes never once lingered, he became more secure about the frostiness of his glass.

But eventually paranoia became curiosity and he found himself observing his neighbor for no particular reason. She looked around her late twenties. She was a neat freak. She was a health nut. They were small, insignificant observations but the more he made them, the more acutely he felt the need to know the woman occupying the entire south face of the apartment building across the street from him. Was the rent on her expensive Hiroo district apartment paid for by a high-powered career or a rich father? Did she spend a fair amount of time grooming herself in front of the mirror because she was vain or because she liked to look presentable? What was that thick, textbook-like tome she read every night before crawling under the covers? There were so many questions he wanted to ask but none of them could be answered.

He didn't know why he was so interested in the woman. It was unlike him, taking notice of another human being. He had always been withdrawn and reclusive, naturally averse to companionship of any sort. But perhaps therein lay the allure of his actions. Watching her gave him a strange sense of attachment, like he was in a relationship without the actual relationship. Though he would never admit it, it eased his loneliness. In a city as big as Tokyo where there were so many people the faces became an indistinguishable blur of skin tones, she was the one person he knew. Her repetitive, almost monotonous daily life gave him a sense of normalcy. It made this city built of cold steel and hard concrete seem so much warmer, seeing her walk into her apartment and flood it with lights that reached the dark depths of his own.

He was reading one Sunday morning when a sharp pain shot through his head and the words on the page disappeared. He gasped, his hand flying up to press into his eyes. They were happening more and more frequently, these migraines accompanied by bouts of blindness, and they were starting to affect him going about his daily life. He couldn't read reports at work without taking a break, he couldn't cook without stepping away from the stove momentarily—hell, he couldn't even walk down the street without stopping to look away from the blinding sun. He thought of his older brother, who had died several years ago from a cancer that had started first in his eye before spreading to his liver. Did ophthalmological problems run in the family?

He placed a call to his physician.

"I'm having eye problems," he said without preamble. There was no need to introduce himself; Tsunade had caller ID.

"What kind of eye problems, Sasuke?" Indeed, Tsunade knew who the caller was. She didn't even need to look at the screen to recognize the flat voice on the other line. The Uchiha family had been her patients for the past 30 years and she had treated Sasuke practically from the day he was born. She knew him almost as well as his mother did.

"I…think I'm going blind."

There was a silence. "I'll turn you over to a specialist," Tsunade said finally.

"No! I want you to look at it."

Tsunade sighed. Sasuke had always had trust issues. Even as a three year old meeting his doctor for what he believed to be the first time, he was reluctant and wary. It had seriously irked Tsunade, having to prove herself to a child.

"Sasuke, I'm general practice. I don't have expert knowledge in eye care. If you want to wait until you're blind and half-dead before seeing an ophthalmologist, that's fine by me."

"Because you're so incompetent that you'd let me get there," Sasuke retorted.

Tsunade ignored him. "I'm making you an appointment with Dr. Haruno Sakura. She was a student of mine at the University of Tokyo. Very capable."

"Tsunade—"

She cut him off. "Look Sasuke, this woman was one of the best I've ever taught. And that's saying something. Her schedule is booked full but because it's me, I can pull strings to get you in. Consider it a favor. Now get a pen and some paper and write this down."

She heard nothing for a moment before there was a heavy sigh and some shuffling of papers. She smiled at her little victory.

"Go."

"Dr. Haruno Sakura's at the University of Tokyo Hospital. Take the East Gate entrance and go up to the tenth floor. What time's convenient for you?"

He scrolled through the calendar on his BlackBerry, grimacing at the excessive amount of colored blocks indicating his many commitments. They were all the same color—green for "Work."

"Can we do early in the morning before I go to work? This week's busy. We have a deal coming up."

"How early? Seven?"

Sasuke grunted his agreement.

"I'll ask. Stay by your phone. I'll call back." And she hung up.

Fifteen minutes later, the phone rang again.

"Seven tomorrow. It's the only time she can squeeze you in."

"Fine."

"And Sasuke?"

"What," he snapped.

"Don't be a bitch."

He wasn't a bitch. That was because when Dr. Haruno Sakura walked into the room the next day, it wasn't some random stranger Sasuke had never met in his life. It was his neighbor from across the street. If Sasuke had been any other man, his mouth would have dropped open in shock. Instead, he managed to keep the surprise registering on his face to a bare minimum, expressed only through the slight upward quirking of his eyebrows.

"Hello Uchiha-san, I'm Dr. Haruno Sakura."

Her voice was as soft as her features. Up close, Sasuke saw everything he had missed from far away. Her eyes were a vivid green, made all the more bright by the complementing pink of her hair. She had a thin nose and a delicate little mouth, with high cheekbones and pale skin. She wasn't the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on, but she was certainly the most striking.

"You're very young," he blurted out before he could stop himself. The underlying message was clear: _are you good enough to be a doctor? _But Haruno Sakura just took it in stride.

"If I look twenty when I'm actually thirty then thank God. I'm not ready for plastic surgery yet." She smiled. "So, Uchiha-san, Tsunade-shishou tells me you're experiencing some pain in your eyes."

Sasuke nodded.

"Any history of eye diseases in your family?"

"My brother had ocular melanoma. He didn't seek medical treatment until it was too late and the cancer had spread to his liver."

It was a statement completely devoid of emotion. He said it in such a matter-of-fact fashion that Haruno Sakura looked up from her scribbling on the chart, curious as to what kind of a reaction her patient was having. Noting the tightness at the corners of his mouth, she determined he was one of those who deeply suppressed their emotions.

"I'm sorry, Uchiha-san," she murmured.

She put the clipboard down and stood up. "Let's take a look at you, shall we?" She stepped forward, putting her hand underneath his chin to lift his head up. As she did, a faint hint of jasmine drifted into Sasuke's nose. Pleasant, he noted absently.

He sat there obediently as the doctor shined a light into his eyes and fitted a phoropter to his face. When she finished, she sat back and looked at him.

"You have early adult onset myopia," Dr. Haruno announced. Seeing the blank look on Sasuke's face, she explained. "Nearsightedness. Things are getting more difficult to see from far away, which is a typical consequence of age. Other than that, I don't see anything wrong with your eyes."

"Is nearsightedness accompanied by constant pain and headaches?"

Dr. Haruno hesitated. "This doesn't have much scientific backing but there's a theory that says your kinds of symptoms are psychological. You're blocking something out emotionally and it has physical manifestations."

Sasuke stood up. "I wasn't aware your field of medicine dealt with psychoanalysis," he said coldly.

"It doesn't," she said coolly, standing up as well. Sasuke noted that she was about a head shorter than him, and that was with heels on, however conservative their height. "But maybe you should look into it, since ophthalmology doesn't seem to be cutting it for you. Good day, Uchiha-san."

She made to move toward the door but the sound of his voice stopped her.

"Wait!"

She turned around.

Frustrated, Sasuke ran a hand through his hair. "Look, I'm sorry. It's…it's just early, that's all."

Dr. Haruno nodded. "Apology accepted."

"Are you free for lunch?"

It was meant to be a conciliatory gesture but somehow it came out more propositional than necessary. If Dr. Haruno Sakura noticed, she didn't give any sign of it. Instead, she said apologetically, "I'm afraid I can't today, but thank you for the offer." She handed him a slip of paper. "Your glasses and contact lens prescriptions, slightly stronger than before."

She inclined her head. "If you'll excuse me."

Sasuke watched her walk out of the room with a peculiar sense of disappointment in his chest. He didn't know why he felt this way. Peeping aside (which he shouldn't have been doing in the first place), he didn't know the woman at all. He thought of Mark Twain's words of insight, which he had read somewhere just the other day: "Inside of the dullest exterior there is a drama, a comedy, and a tragedy." Was he trying to get to know Haruno Sakura in order to see if there was indeed something more to her than what he saw in the daily show she unknowingly put on for him? God he was pathetic, trying to view reality in terms of silly metaphors.

He looked at his watch. A quarter 'til, it read. He thought of the mountains of paperwork he had to get through and of phones ringing off the hook.

_Good_.

It'd get his neighbor off his mind.

Or so Sasuke thought, until he got to his office and picked up the already screeching phone.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"What's the news?" Came Tsunade's brisk voice. If Sasuke didn't know her better, he wouldn't have caught the concern hidden beneath the bluntness and clinical detachment.

"I'm fine. Just age."

An almost imperceptible sigh. "I see…I see."

Sasuke wondered what Tsunade would have said if he told her what else Dr. Haruno Sakura had diagnosed.

_You're blocking something out emotionally and it has physical manifestations._

"I'm having a little dinner party at my house this Saturday night," Tsunade said.

"I'm going to be working on this deal all week, Tsunade."

She scoffed. "On an empty stomach, Sasuke? You need to eat and God knows you don't take proper care of yourself. Just stop by. You can shove some curry and rice into your mouth, throw out a bullshit excuse, and go. There will only be a couple people there so no pressure."

In Sasuke's opinion, leaving a bigger party would be easier than leaving a smaller one, but he merely grunted and said, "Fine. I'll be there."

"We'll see you at six thirty then."

"We" turned out to be some friends and one more person Sasuke wasn't expecting: Dr. Haruno Sakura. Dressed in a red silk blouse that was as boldly colored as her hair, it wasn't difficult to pick her out in a group of ten or so people. Already she had gotten the attention of Jiraiya, Tsunade's husband. Then again, that wasn't saying much considering Jiraiya was a devoted appreciator of the female species. Before his marriage to Tsunade, Jiraiya was a notorious seducer of women. It was only out of respect for his new wife's incredible skill with the kitchen knife that the courting and charming subsided…sort of. As Sasuke neared the two, he could see Jiraiya give the doctor a roguish smile.

"Yes, my wife always talked about how brilliant you are but she didn't mention your loveliness—ah, Sasuke!" He extended a hand to Sasuke, who shook it.

"Jiraiya."

"How have you been doing, my dear boy? I feel like I haven't seen you in ages!"

Sasuke shrugged. "Busy with work."

Jiraiya laughed. "Of course." He turned to his previous companion. "Sasuke here is a senior vice president at MUFJ and on track to become managing director. Very clever boy, he is. Oh, I'm sorry! Do you two know each other? Uchiha Sasuke, this is Dr. Haruno Sakura. She was a student of Tsunade's and is now the chief resident of University of Tokyo Hospital's ophthalmology department."

Haruno Sakura smiled. "We've met, actually. Tsunade-shishou referred him to me and I gave him an exam just the other day."

Jiraiya looked at her thoughtfully. "Huh. An examination…" He blinked. "Excuse me, young ones. I just had a brilliant idea."

They watched him hurry out of the dining room. Sasuke snorted.

"If the next piece of erotic fiction he publishes has a patient-nurse role play scene in it, the world can thank you."

Haruno Sakura looked at him, puzzled. "Excuse me?"

"Jiraiya writes porn," he explained.

She blinked. "I-I see."

He took a sip of champagne from his flute. "You've never met Jiraiya before, despite being his wife's protégé?"

She shook her head. "No. Our relationship was confined to the classroom and to the hospital. We were so busy it was hard to find time to grab a bite to eat outside of the cafeteria."

Sasuke grunted. "You're lucky. Becoming acquainted with Jiraiya later is always better than earlier. Especially if you're a woman."

She laughed. "So the moody, brooding man can actually crack a joke. What, you're more genial when it's in the evening?"

"You tell me. Isn't there scientific backing for this kind of stuff?" He turned to look at her. She gave him a slow smile.

"Turns out Uchiha-san _does _listen to others," she said, amused.

"Sasuke."

She looked at him a moment. "Sakura."

A chiming sound was heard then. They both looked up to see Tsunade ringing a glass with a spoon.

"Dinner is served!" She called.

Dinner was a quiet, elegant affair. There were all types of sushi, cold soba, edamame, and curry rice as promised. Miso soup, sake and beers exclusive to Japan were served and the meal was finished off with mochi. Throughout dinner, Jiraiya entertained the guests with stories of his travels across the world. What he failed to mention (that was already known by those closely acquainted with him) were the numerous times he was jailed overnight for spying on unsuspecting women in public baths.

With Sakura sitting across from him, it was an uncomfortable reminder for Sasuke of his own remarkably similar transgressions.

As they bid farewell to their hosts at the end of the night, Sasuke turned to her and said, "You know, my lunch offer still stands."

She smirked. "So the man is persistent too, I see."

He walked her to her car in silence. As she unlocked the door and climbed in, Sasuke began to panic. She wasn't interested and was searching for the quickest, nicest way to refuse him. He would've been a fool to deny that it was a blow to his pride. Sasuke may have been a bachelor and a loner, but he was well aware of his physical blessedness and the effect he had on women.

Most women.

"Make it dinner." She grinned up at him. "You can get my number from Tsunade-shishou. Should be fun."

He watched as she drove away, slightly dumbfounded. The woman was playing with him! He smirked. So his neighbor who lived a humdrum life was feisty. He liked that.

Driving back home that night, Sasuke made sure to take a longer route home.

The next day after he got off work, Sasuke stopped by the florist. Yamanaka Florists was the premier florist in town, a family-owned and operated business that had evolved from a tiny little shop into a dazzling glass greenhouse filled with everything from red roses to more rare, exotic species.

As Sasuke stepped into the store, a tinkling little bell chimed and an attractive young blonde woman appeared.

"Welcome to Yamanaka Florists, sir, how may I help you?"

Sasuke glanced at her. "I'm about to ask a woman to dinner in a way that might offend her. Any ideas?"

The woman blinked. As a romantic, Yamanaka Ino couldn't understand how any dinner invitation accompanied by beautiful flowers could be deemed insulting, but then again, there were many distasteful people in the world that did detestable things. Perhaps this man had cheated on his wife and was trying to make amends by taking her out on a night on the town? Or maybe he was a playboy pursuing the newest catch of the day, wooing the object of his affections with wine and some roses? Yamanaka Ino didn't think she'd mind. If she didn't have a fiancé already, she'd gladly be showered with attention from this darkly handsome man.

"Well the traditional option is roses—"

"No roses. Nothing conventional."

Haruno Sakura was a very unique woman.

Ino nodded. "I see. If you'll follow me, we have a special section devoted to our one-of-a-kind creations."

She led him to a showroom off to the side. As soon as Sasuke stepped over the threshold, he was immersed in an extraordinary sensory experience. It was like an explosion of color, every hue of the rainbow concentrated in the blooms that sat on the shelves. Delicate fragrances wafted into his nose. There were orange tiger lilies and birds of paradise bouquets, arrangements of rare blue roses, and fringed tulips that looked like fiery flames. Sasuke wasn't much of a nature person, but even he could appreciate the fleeting beauty in front of him.

"Over here is a project I finished just yesterday," Ino explained as she led him to a ceramic vase containing sprays of purple orchids. It was simple, but it was elegant. "They're dendrobium orchids, imported from New Zealand. More hardy than other orchid genii."

"I'll take them."

As Sasuke took them home, he wondered if Sakura was going to take kindly to what he was about to do. Pissing a girl off on a date before the date even started—that would be a story to tell his grandchildren. But there was no way Sasuke was going to get Tsunade involved in this. Ever since his parents and older brother passed away, the family doctor viewed herself as a guardian of sorts to the last remaining member of the Uchiha family. As far as Sasuke was concerned, as long as she was at his wedding and present at the birth of his child, her participation in Uchiha family matters was done.

Besides, Sakura seemed to enjoy discovering his weird quirks, didn't she?

When Sasuke got home, he carefully set the vase of orchids down and turned to look at the neighboring apartment building. It was 6:45. If Sakura returned home at seven as she usually did, then it wouldn't be long before he could go over there and take her out to dinner. Assuming she accepted, of course. There was still that little issue of how she was going to react to him knowing where she lived because he had been watching her all this time.

The grandfather clock in the hallway chimed. It was seven. A few minutes later, the light was turned on in Sakura's apartment and she walked in, dropping her purse on the table by the door and shrugging off her coat to hang on the coat rack. Imagining the orientation of the building in his mind, Sasuke left his apartment, vase of orchids in hand.

When he got there, he was more nervous than he had anticipated. It was a lot of things: was this the right apartment? Would she like the flowers? _Was this creepy?_ Bothered by his sweat-inducing thoughts, Sasuke rang the doorbell without thinking. When he understood what he had done, it was too late. There was the sound of footsteps and the door swung open to reveal a very surprised-looking Sakura.

"Sasuke! What are you doing here?"

"Taking you out to dinner." He was impressed by how strong his voice sounded. He handed her the flowers. "Here. They're for you."

She looked at them admiringly. "They're beautiful." Burying her nose in them, she took a deep whiff. "Mm…and they smell nice too." She looked up at him then, a quizzical expression on her face.

"But how did you get my address? Did Tsunade-shishou give it to you?"

Sasuke swallowed. "Sakura…I have something to tell you."

She looked at him expectantly.

"May I come in?"

Frowning, Sakura stepped aside to let him pass. He took off his shoes and walked down the hallway. Passing by the kitchen and the living room he had seen her make and eat dinner in, Sasuke walked to the glass windows and pointed.

"I knew where you lived because I live over there and I've seen you," he said quietly.

There was a pregnant pause. Dimly, Sasuke heard a rustle of clothing as Sakura came towards the window and looked.

"You've seen me," she said flatly.

He nodded.

"What have you seen?"

"Just you coming into the room and making dinner and stuff," he said hastily. "And you reading in your bed but I swear I didn't look when you went to take a shower and…"

His voice faltered. He tried to gauge Sakura's reaction but there was no expression on her face.

"I didn't know who you were until that day at the hospital," he finished lamely. "I'm sorry if I've made you uncomfortable."

A heavy silence fell between them. It was suffocating. Never before in his life had Sasuke felt as ashamed as he did then. What was he thinking, spying on a woman he didn't know and then having the gall to admit it to her? His mother would turn in her grave if she knew her son threw all of his blue blood etiquette out the window in such a despicable manner. Stupid…stupid, stupid—

"Sasuke?"

He snapped out of his trance to see Sakura staring out the window. Curiously, she was fidgeting.

"I have something to admit to you as well."

He waited.

"I've watched you through these windows too."

His eyes widened in shock. "But I never caught you! The reason I watched in the first place was to see if you did the same so I could complain to the landlord about the transparency of the glass. When you didn't, I thought it was only your building's problem."

Sakura shook her head. "No, your building has the same problem too. I noticed one night when I was laying in bed, trying to fall asleep, and the light came on in your apartment. You had come home from work late or something." She chuckled nervously. "And um…I um…I've seen you get ready for bed."

The implication of her statement was not lost on him. The way Sasuke got ready for bed was to strip naked in his bedroom, take a shower, and then come back out and put on his boxers. Surprised that Sakura would make such a confession to him, Sasuke looked at her. Her cheeks were flushed, the color matching that of her hair.

"I guess we're even then?"

She laughed. "Yeah, I guess we are."

He turned to leave. Unsure of whether or not dinner was still on, Sakura hesitantly followed him. As he laced up his shoes, he saw that she was standing over him, not knowing what to do.

"You know, restaurants have a rule against no shirt, no shoes," he said.

They dined at Nihonryori Ryugin, a restaurant in the Roppongi district. Sasuke ordered pike eel soup with matsutake mushrooms in homemade eel stock for her and showed her his own entrée, a plate that had edible newsprint silkscreened onto it using squid ink. It was a delicious culinary experience and Sakura had a lovely time getting to know her handsome patient. When the night was over, Sasuke drove her home and walked her to her door.

"I had a great time tonight," she said sincerely. "Thank you, Sasuke."

"Will I see you again?"

Sakura looked at him, as if deciding. Then she said softly, "Go back to your apartment and look out your window."

She leaned up to kiss him gently on the lips before closing the door to her apartment behind her.

Confused, Sasuke could only do as she said. When he got back to his apartment and looked out his window, he saw her bedroom bathed in the soft glow of the lone lamp on the bedside table. Standing in the middle of the room was Sakura, her back facing him. Slowly, she reached her hands behind her back and unzipped her dress. Sasuke's breath caught.

_So this was what she had in mind_.

She stepped out of it, revealing lace undergarments. Her hands moved to the back of her thigh, where she undid the garter belt clasp on her stockings. When she finished unbuttoning all four of them, she sat down and slid the stockings off. Next came the belt itself, gliding over her hips and down her legs to rest on the floor with everything else. She was in nothing but her bra and panties then and it were as if Sasuke's eyes were magnetically drawn to her, unable to be torn away as she unhooked her bra and let it slide off her arms. Finally, she reached for her panties, bending over to slide them down her legs and onto the floor.

She was naked now. There was too much distance between them to make out fine details, but the outline of her slender curves was clear. She had a tiny waist that stood in stark contrast to her full, rounded hips and long, tapering legs. And then she turned around and Sasuke found himself unable to breathe.

As if knowing his reaction, Sakura smiled. Stepping closer to the glass, having not a care in the world for whether or not other people could see her, she raised her hand and curled a finger, beckoning him. He understood.

They were complete strangers…about to become lovers for the first time.


End file.
